This will be brief, I promise you. Lawrence O’Donnell just had a magnificent segment on The Last Word, in which he interviewed Jerry Blackwell and Steve Swisher, the two lead attorneys for the prosecution in the George Floyd murder trial.
The interview was as compelling as hell. Both Blackwell and Swisher are former long time prosecutors, now in private practice, who both answered the call of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to lead the team to prosecute George Chauvin. As it turns out, both Blackwell and Swisher took the case pro bono, meaning that they took no salary, instead donating their time and talents to what they felt was a worthy effort.
But it was in the last minute that O’Donnell let loose the thunderbolt. O’Donnell reminded the two that there were three more police officers due to begin standing trial on August 23rd, and asked if either was planning on participating in that trial. The two looked at each other, and Swisher simply said, The team is intact.
This is a stunning revelation, for one simple reason. Starting on August 23rd, former Minneapolis police officers I. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao are scheduled to go on trial for charges of aiding and abetting second degree murder, and aiding and abetting second degree manslaughter. And the fact that the Fab Four are still together should send a chilling message to every one of those officers, as well as their attorneys.
Here’s why. Obviously Derek Chauvin was the prize, the man with his knee on George Floyd’s neck for 9:29. But at this point, there would be absolutely no point to keep the Dream Team together if the prosecution was interested in cutting deals to cop pleas for the second level characters.
This can only mean one thing. It means that Keith Ellison is going to send a message. Police misconduct will not be allowed. While Chauvin was the senior officer on the scene, any of the other officers could have intervened before things got out of hand. And now they’re going to be held responsible for their tragic lack of judgement. And that should send a small shiver down the spine of bad cops everywhere, especially with the FBI stepping into the North Carolina murder case toady. The good old days are over.
Follow me on Twitter at @RealMurfster35
Uh oh spagettio!
From your keyboard to God’s ears!
I believe that if they do not prosecute bad cops, there will be people killing cops all throughout the country. There are a lot of racist cops, there are a lot of really bad cops, but there are good cops as well. We do not need more violence and if the police are allowed to continue to kill people, especially people of color, it may turn very ugly
I just want to clear up a common misunderstanding about pro bono. When an attorney works pro bono, it means ONLY THAT ATTORNEY is working for free. Court costs, document costs, filing fees, paralegal work etc all must be paid for by the client.